October 12-14, 1997 Chase Report
November is usually the month when the Red Sea Trough
is active, but this year October 12 was the first day in which the trough
reached Israel. Although it was not yet active, there was always the chance
of storms developing in the south-eastern Arava desert area of Israel.
On October 12 I drove to the southernmost tip of
Israel, Eilat. It was still very hot in Eilat, around 37 C. Except for
a few cumulus congestus above the mountains of Jordan, which is still pretty
unusual, nothing else developed that day. On October 13, during the noon
hours the sky darkened in the south, and what was probably an anvil (I
couldn't see lightning, so I'm not sure it was a thunderstorm) covered
the sky above Eilat. The view southwards into Egypt was promising, as the
sky was dark. But except for very light rain, I heard no thunder. I couldn't
go and chase the storm in Egypt, because that would mean getting through
customs, and by the time I'll be on the other side of the border night
will probably fall. The sunset was accompanied by beautiful mammatus over
Eilat. On October 14 big cumulus congestus formed over the higher ground
of Jordan on one side, and on the mountains of Eilat on the other side.
I couldn't see anything promising, and I started driving back from Eilat
to Jerusalem in 16:00. I did notice a large thunderstorm behind me as
I was driving northwards, but a quick look at the satellite picture confirmed
that it was again in Egypt, and the sun had already set.
This satellite image from October 14 in the evening
shows the large thunderstorm over the central Sinai peninsula (Egypt).
A few cumulus congestus are visible along the eastern border or Israel,
above the mountains of Jordan. The big storms were still to the south,
in Arabia.
David Shohami,
1997
